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This article analyzes the management of Federal expenditure on mental health between 2001 and 2022, reflecting on how this management denies and reaffirms the principles of Brazilian Psychiatric Reform. It involves research, based on publicly accessible data available on Ministry of Health databases, i.e. the I.T. Department of the SUS, the Integrated Public Health Budget System, and the Electronic System of the Citizen Information Service between 2001 (when Law No. 10,216 was enacted) and 2022 (the last year of the Bolsonaro government). Federal spending on mental health, in relation to total spending on health services, fell in the five years, from an average of 2% to 1.7%. Out-of-hospital expenditure on mental health reached 80%, and funding for Brazil's community-based psychosocial care centers (CAPS) increased but saw a reduction in spending on other areas. The management of federal spending reveals the progress, limitations, and setbacks in Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, especially in redirecting resources to institutionalizing healthcare actions, and making mental health expenditure "invisible" within the health budget, which makes the social control of policy application difficult.